Conferencing on No JitterConferencinghttps://www.nojitter.com
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enSun, 07 Jun 2020 05:11:49 -0500http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specificationNo Jitter Roll: Moment of Reflection, WFH Offeringshttps://www.nojitter.com/contact-center-customer-experience/no-jitter-roll-moment-reflection-wfh-offerings
In this week’s news roundup, we take a look at wireless access point analytics, enterprise-grade Internet service, and conferencing solutions for the office and home office, as well as take a moment for reflection.

A Moment of ReflectionIn the spirit of coming together, we as a team at No Jitter wanted to take a moment to reflect on the racial injustices that continue to impact the black and African American community. The No Jitter team firmly opposes racism and violence in all its forms and is committed to being a forum that embraces diversity and promotes racial equality for all.

The first new application, called Right Now, tracks new devices that enter a space and connect to Wi-Fi, and allows analysis of how workers move around a building or campus by recording movement from one WAP to the next. The second application, Impact Analysis, will provide insight into how employees are using spaces, not just how much they’re using them by enabling reports on metrics such as time spent in the office and building utilization, as shared in an announcement blog. The level of data collected is dependent on company need, allowing a range from anonymous statistical counts to identification of individuals.

DNA Space is available for use across Cisco’s Catalyst, Aironet, and Meraki WAPs, and is included in many licenses. For customers that don’t have a DNA Space license, Cisco is offering a 90-day free trial period.

Comcast Business Offers Dedicated Home ConnectionAiming to address the bandwidth tug of war taking place within homes turned into offices — Comcast Business this week announced availability of a new enterprise-grade service called Comcast Business at Home. This service allows organizations to provide employees working from their homes with a business-paid Internet connection independent of, and therefore not impacted by, home cable service.

There’s no threshold for data usage or limit on number of employees a business can support with the service, Comcast Business said. In addition, Business at Home allows users to route calls from their business numbers to any device.

Poly Adds Microsoft Teams Rooms SolutionsLast week, Poly unveiled a series of Poly Room solutions for Microsoft Teams Rooms, including the Poly G10-T, G40-T, and G80-T. Designed to fit the needs of small- to large-sized rooms, each kit will include the Poly GC8 controller, Lenovo ThinkSmart Edition Tiny, and wall mounts, Poly said. Additionally, the G40-T will come with the Poly Studio USB, and the G80-T will include the EagleEye Director II premium HD video camera and the Trio C60 desktop device, according to Poly.These solutions will ship upon Microsoft Teams certification within the coming months.

Crestron Makes the Home the OfficeFollowing last month’s release of the Flex MX, a tabletop conferencing device, Crestron is now also offering HomeTime, a video- and audioconferencing system aimed at work- and learn-at-home use cases. Designed in collaboration with Logitech and Zoom, HomeTime features native Zoom Rooms integration and includes Logitech’s MeetUp conferencing camera, which which also provides microphone and speaker functions.

The system's UC engine is compatible with the Crestron XiO Cloud service for network management and provisioning and system alerts, and a one-year subscription of Crestron XiO Cloud Premium is included with HomeTime, according to Crestron.

Dana Casielles, No Jitter associate editor, and Beth Schultz, No Jitter editor, contributed to this article.

]]><a href="/event-type/enterprise-connect" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Enterprise Connect</a>Contact Center & Customer ExperienceCloud CommunicationsConferencingDigital WorkplaceFuture of WorkProduct NewsTeam Collaboration Tools & WorkspacesUnified Communications & CollaborationCrestonPolyMicrosoftComcastCiscosite:License Global,nid:17251Fri, 05 Jun 2020 00:00:00 -0500Ryan DailyLicense GlobalNews &amp; Viewsenhttps://www.nojitter.com/contact-center-customer-experience/no-jitter-roll-moment-reflection-wfh-offeringsCan You Get to a Single Meeting App? https://www.nojitter.com/vcaas/can-you-get-single-meeting-app
Nearly 40% of organizations support more than one meeting application, according to Nemertes’ Workplace Collaboration: 2019-20 research study published in June 2019. It seems on the surface that the ideal scenario, in terms of minimizing cost and simplifying management, is to standardize on a single meeting application. However, preliminary data from our upcoming Visual Communications and Collaboration: 2020-21 research study shows that few enterprises that currently support more than one app are planning to consolidate to just one.

These data points beg two questions: Why do companies support more than one app? And if the trend will continue, what is the optimal operating model for supporting multiple apps?

Historically, our data tells us that companies support (or allow) more than one app for a variety of reasons, including:

Legacy platforms that haven’t yet been phased out

Mergers and acquisitions bringing additional apps into the organization that haven’t been consolidated or eliminated, or that IT continues to allow to operate

IT allowing, or even supporting, the ability of business units, and even individual users, to obtain and use their own apps

Business units and/or workgroups are unhappy with the primary enterprise meeting app and therefore obtain a different app on their own

Organizations must support multiple apps to engage with customers and partners

Meeting apps are available bundled with other apps in use

In some cases, organizations simply haven’t settled on a single meeting app.

For those without a standardized, high-quality application in place, the rush to work-from-home has underscored the need for a proactive approach to provisioning a video-enabled meeting app. Without an already available capability, many users are taking advantage of free offers from almost every meeting application in the market, so virtual teams can engage remotely with one another. This creates potential chaos and security issues, as IT loses control of the virtual meeting environment.

For those supporting multiple apps, there are two pathways forward: continue to support multiple apps or consolidate onto a single enterprise-wide app. The former offers the potential to reduce costs, simplify the user experience, and ease management requirements, whereas the latter provides the greatest flexibility and end-user choice. Standardizing on a single app will only be successful if that app can provide a high-quality meeting experience, and users don’t feel that they are giving up needed capabilities to use the corporate-provided app.

For example, an organization that has picked Cisco Webex Meetings as its company-wide meeting platform may find that employees still need to use GoToMeeting, Microsoft Teams Meetings, Zoom, etc., to join meetings hosted by partners, customers, suppliers, etc.

Fortunately, the vendor market is responding to this new reality. Video conferencing endpoint vendors are increasingly offering flexibility in their room systems to enable them to be used for multiple services. Many room system vendors, at a minimum, now support the ability for meeting attendees to connect their own laptop to the room system so that the system can be used with whatever app is on the user’s device.

Some room system vendors even now offer the ability to launch multiple native clients for different meeting services, allowing meeting room participants to choose the meeting service they wish to use for each meeting (though room scheduling can be problematic in this scenario). Alternatively, meeting integration vendors can enable participants to use their company’s standard meeting app to join a meeting, regardless of the meeting app that other participants are using on their own devices or within their meeting rooms. Recently, Cisco and Microsoft announced plans for meeting app and room interoperability as did Microsoft and Zoom, meaning that solutions for supporting multiple meeting environments should improve over time.

The reality is while one meeting application might make some sense, user and business needs will likely drive an ever-expanding need to support, at a minimum, the ability for employees to join meetings using other services. Success will come from enabling meeting spaces and interoperability capabilities, to ensure a seamless ability to join any meeting, from any location, via any device or application.

]]>VCaaSAnalyst InsightConferencingMeetingsTechnology TrendsZoomMicrosoft Teamscloud video collaborationvideo conferencingsite:License Global,nid:17233Wed, 27 May 2020 00:00:00 -0500Irwin LazarLicense GlobalNews &amp; Viewsenhttps://www.nojitter.com/vcaas/can-you-get-single-meeting-appCrestron Bridges the Videoconferencing Gaphttps://www.nojitter.com/video-collaboration-av/crestron-bridges-videoconferencing-gap
With user uptake of video meetings during this prolonged period of remote work, enterprises are reminded once again just how important it is that they’re able to support different video technologies as needed. This is an issue that will, no doubt, be front and center when enterprises bring workers back into the office.

This is a challenge, however, as most enterprises are only able to cover about 80% of their video uses with the technology they’ve standardized on, said Brent Kelly, principal analyst with KelCor, during a Crestron-sponsored webinar hosted by Enterprise Connect and No Jitter. While two out of 10 doesn't seem like a lot, that 20% of video meetings might be with clients, or more importantly, prospective clients, Kelly noted. A device like Crestron’s newly available Flex MX allows enterprise users to join non-standard meetings without worrying about interoperability, he added.

Crestron developed the tabletop Flex MX with the need for enterprises to support quicker, on-the-fly meetings with one-touch join and support for BYOD and native videoconferencing capabilities, said Andrew Gross, director of UC enterprise sales for Crestron, during the webinar.

To show the ease of setting up a videoconference using the Flex MX, Nic Milani, executive director of commercial product marketing for Crestron, demonstrated device setup and features. In the demo, Milani hooked a tablet up to the Flex MX via an HDMI cable and clicked to launch a Microsoft Teams video call with a colleague. The Flex MX supports Microsoft Teams and Zoom Rooms natively; switching to BYOD mode enables use of other conferencing software. It also supports USB connectivity, and has a 360-degree microphone array.

This sort of user experience is vital, said another webinar participant, Kevin Kieller, cofounder of enableUC. He shared his experience using the Flex MX for a Teams meeting, explaining how meeting information from an Office 365 invite displayed on the Flex MX screen and allowed him to join with a click.

Making Multiple Video Conferencing Solutions Work

Tillamook County Creamery Association, an early adopter, likewise sees the user experience with the Flex MX as a draw, IT professionals with the dairy cooperative shared during the webinar.

In 2018, Tillamook consolidated three Portland, Ore., offices into one campus, John Trappe, manager of IT infrastructure for Tillamook, explained. With the move came a rethink of its conference and huddle rooms, Trappe went on to say.

One problem that became apparent at the onset was that Tillamook clients and business partners used a range of videoconferencing solutions (Zoom, UberConference, BlueJeans, and others), which often didn't work with its room systems, Trappe said. Having to help users who had issues connecting with clients on different solutions that 20% problem — kept IT busy, added John Hose, senior system administrator at Tillamook , noting that he’d be the one called in to fix their problems. As a workaround, Hoser installed a second HDMI cable that went directly from the screen to the table, so that clients could plug a device in and present directly onto the screen. Effectively, IT set up one cable for the conference room system and one for content sharing.

After working this way for a while, Trappe and Hoser said they decided it was too cumbersome and started searching for a better way. They met with their internal marketing and sales teams to discuss the challenges and then headed to Microsoft Ignite 2019 with the goal of finding a new solution that would work with different videoconferencing applications. There they met with Crestron and looked at the Flex series of devices. Following Ignite, they received a Flex MX test device and, with a positive experience, will be deploying it in their premises once it becomes GA (later this month for the Flex MX for Microsoft Teams, and at an unspecified time this summer for the Zoom Rooms version, according to Crestron).

As many enterprises begin to slowly move in the direction of reopening offices, many IT professionals will have to evaluate (or re-evaluate) the videoconference equipment they have and will use in the future. Solutions like the Flex MX that can work with a broad swash of videoconferencing solutions can provide them with flexibility and functionality they’ll need in the times ahead.

Many office workers are working from home and using voice and video conferencing to remain connected with co-workers. Operating optimum online conferences depends on numerous elements running smoothly. Let’s look at those factors, how you can measure them, and some tips for what you can do about improving them.

Network Tips

The first set of tips concerns network performance – and some steps may require that non-technical staff obtain assistance from an IT person. On the corporate end of the link, John Bartlett did an excellent review of the Network Impact of Moving Collaborations to the Cloud, in this related No Jitter article. Here he addresses one of the biggest challenges -- the access link between the remote office and Internet core.

To configure Quality of Service (QoS) on your home network router, you may need to consult with a co-worker or an IT staff member to enable the right settings. If the internet service provider (ISP) provides you with a router (which may or may not be Wi-Fi enabled), you may need to submit a request to your carrier to prioritize voice and video. Some ISPs provide access to the router, and you can generally find instructions on the internet with a simple search like configure QoS on <ISP_name> router.

Next, test your network speed at speedtest.net. Run tests on several different servers to understand the range of performance because the results will vary. These outcomes will give you an idea of the general range of network speeds to expect. In addition, the performance of your conferencing system will depend on how loaded the conferencing servers are at the scheduled time of your meeting. A conferencing system overload will often seem like a networking problem, and the network speed test can help you resolve which problem you’re experiencing.

It also helps to upgrade your Wi-Fi router. Older ones may not provide the level of service that you need with all family members at home. There is also a problem known as bufferbloat, that slows communication speeds, especially with multiple users. If you upgrade, you’ll want a router that supports later versions of the wireless standards like 802.11ac, and 802.11ax. Disable 802.11b low speeds, leaving only the higher speeds operational (11Mbps).

Use the 5Ghz band (802.11a and later standards) because the channels provide more bandwidth. The 5Ghz frequencies are more limited in their propagation through walls, so you may have to move closer to the router or move it closer to your work area. Routers that support both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands will have separate configurations for each.

Switch to a wired connection and avoid contention for the Wi-Fi spectrum. This only works for devices that support a wired connection. Tablets and cell phones typically don’t have wired connections, so you’ll need to rely on the other tips for those devices. A wired connection to your laptop may require the purchase of an adapter.

You should also avoid downloading or streaming entertainment videos (movies) during the time that you’re on a conference call. That may require setting a network usage schedule with family members. Otherwise, both you and interactive gamers in your family will be unhappy if you’re competing with each other for bandwidth.

QoS isn’t supported on the Internet, and there’s not much you can do if the source of packet loss is a congested link located deep within the Internet. Turning off video may help somewhat since most modern network equipment prioritizes smaller volume flows like voice.

If you’re experiencing problems, it helps to determine where the packet loss or high latency is occurring by using path testing software. An example is PingPlotter, which runs on home computers to measure paths to a target IP address or server. Other products frequently found in corporate accounts include AppNeta and NetBeez.

Conferencing Tips

If your organization runs its own internal video conferencing systems, pay attention to multipoint control unit (MCU) loading. Running MCUs near their hardware limitations can create unexpected problems that are difficult to diagnose.

Start conferences at odd times instead of on the hour or the half-hour. These are prevalent launch times that can easily overload conferencing systems and MCUs. Instead, start them at an odd minute marks, like 7, 17, 37, and 47 minutes after the hour. Note that I skipped times close to the hour and half-hour.

Audio quality is more important than video quality. You may need to turn off video on paths with limited bandwidth or when using overloaded conferencing systems. You can tell that something is overloaded when you experience video pixilation and garbled voice.

If you’re conducting a presentation, distribute the slides before the call, so that attendees can follow along without needing a real-time video presentation. That will shift the delivery of the slides to a bulk data transfer that doesn’t require real-time network performance.

On the security front, use passwords to prevent uninvited participants from joining and taking over the call. Change default settings so that the host has to “pass the baton” to allow someone to broadcast video to the attendees. This critical step prevents your video conference from being hijacked by troublemakers who tend to transmit undesirable content.

Non-Network Tips

Be aware of what you’re doing during the call to avoid embarrassing situations. Be safe and turn off your camera and mute the audio if you need to take care of something that you don’t want everyone to see and hear. I’ll leave you with that thought.

Also, be careful of what’s in the background. A recent article described a father whose partially-clothed toddler ran into the middle of a conference call. Fortunately, the other participants on the call were also parents and took it in stride with a good chuckle.

Furthermore, set yourself up with some good lighting. A bright background light, a bright window, or wearing a hat may leave a shadow over your face. Working in an otherwise dark room may leave you with only the bluish light from your computer screen to illuminate your face.

Try to work out uninterrupted time for your calls with a minimum of background interruptions and noise. That can be challenging with small children at home, but it’s possible. Establish a protocol for “do not disturb” with other family members. Even small children can learn to follow the protocol with a little training.

Give quiet attendees an opportunity to speak. Select a moderator and define a process that prevents dominant talkers from monopolizing the conversation. Mute yourself if you have nothing to say. The background noise of rustling papers, typing, or chowing down on lunch can be distracting.

Use a headset or earbuds to avoid echo. Laptops are particularly troublesome because the mic and speakers are adjacent to one another. Be careful with the cables of wired headsets so that they don’t make excess noise from rubbing against a button or zipper on your clothing.

Summary

To facilitate the smooth operation of virtual events, your organization should create a list of conferencing tips or rules. Instruct the more technically-inclined staff to help others get their systems functioning properly. With working from home becoming the new normal, I’ve talked with some people who have had their teenagers assist with the household setup.

Good luck, and stay healthy!

]]><a href="/event-type/enterprise-connect" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Enterprise Connect</a>ConferencingAnalyst InsightEmployee ExperienceMeetingsSecurityTeam Collaboration Tools & WorkspacesTechnology TrendsCOVID-19remote worksite:License Global,nid:17115Thu, 09 Apr 2020 00:00:00 -0500Terry SlatteryLicense GlobalNews &amp; Viewsenhttps://www.nojitter.com/conferencing/take-steps-improve-conferencing-remote-workersTaking the Tired Out of Voice Conversationshttps://www.nojitter.com/employee-experience/taking-tired-out-voice-conversations
When you pick up the phone or, these days, click a button to place a call, the expectation is that you’re going to have a connection of high enough quality to allow for reasonable conversational back and forth. In the business environment, woe to all when this doesn’t happen; when voices break up or the line drops entirely, messaging gets muddled, communications misinterpreted, meetings end without action items in order, or customers raise their hackles even higher or head off to a competitor.

Not good!

In fact, persistently subpar audio quality is untenable for enterprises, especially when supporting communications and collaboration among globally distributed employees and external parties or running big, multinational contact center operations. You can't have productive meetings or deliver great customer experiences with poor call quality, after all.

The Critical Link

And, as companies increase their use of video meetings, audio quality becomes even more important, as Judy Olson, an informatics professor at University of California-Irvine who has studied team dynamics and remote work, pointed out in a recent Spearline-sponsored No Jitter podcast — Does Distance Matter? (number three in a 12-part series that kicked off earlier this month). “Audio is the critical link — if you have to choose between audio and video, it’s the audio that has to be of high quality,” she said.

Voices must be intelligible, of the same volume and range, and not be impacted by delay, Olson said. When any of those are off, participants can’t keep their minds on the task at hand, for example. Instead of paying attention to the words being spoken, they’re wondering what’s happening with the technology. Likewise, conversations that end up jumbled or delayed can leave customers feeling less than impressed with a brand, she added. As much as they might intuitively understand that technology is at fault, they still can’t help wonder, “What’s wrong with this person!”

In another episode, Voice: Not Just Another Application, Sorell Slaymaker, principal consultant with TechVision Research, warned that many organizations end up being “penny wise and pound foolish” when it comes to voice quality. In other words, he explained, they use a GSM G.729 or other codec for audio data compression “to save every penny they can on network bandwidth and, in the process, they end up costing the business many dollars of people’s time and productivity because users have to work so hard to understand each other, repeat so much, and often have no idea what people had said.”

Not only does this lead to the “what’s wrong with this person” problem Olson noted, but it’s physically draining, Slaymaker said. “If you’re on the phone all the time, there’s a cognitive load on your mind if you have to struggle to listen and understand what people are saying. And that can be tiring and fatiguing.”

Get With the Program

Poor call quality can result from a variety of reasons, and not only codec choice, as Terry Slattery, a network engineer with NetCraftsmen, shared during the first episode in the Spearline-sponsored series: Why Audio Quality Matters.

In one client case he cited, employees at a remote site experienced poor call quality during the day. This turned out to be due to a lack of appropriate QoS mechanisms combined with extensive use of entertainment apps — primarily streaming audio and video downloads (legitimate uses due to the nature of the company’s business) — causing high packet loss. More commonly, echo is a culprit, Slattery said. This can pop up at the interface between the PSTN and VoIP environments and result from excessive use of speakerphones.

But, as Slattery discussed, enterprises can — and should — do more than just grin and bear it when it comes to voice quality. One good technology choice, he said, is active path testing, which measures network characteristics that are critical to application performance. As he explained during the podcast and in a recent No Jitter post, active path testing creates synthetic network traffic — streams of different packet types — to measure for reliable delivery characteristics. For real-time voice, which uses the User Datagram Protocol, active path testing would detect problems such as latency, jitter, and packet loss.

With “audio quality as important now as ever,” as Slaymaker noted in episode two, there’s no time to lose in investigating how to optimize your voice calls.

Click here or on the players below for more insight and advice on maintaining high-quality voice experiences for your employees and customers.

]]><a href="/event-type/enterprise-connect" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Enterprise Connect</a>Employee ExperienceConferencingCustomer ExperienceEnterprise NetworkingReal-Time CommunicationsVoice qualityaudio performanceActive Path TestingSpearlinesite:License Global,nid:16922Thu, 30 Jan 2020 00:00:00 -0600Beth SchultzLicense GlobalNews &amp; Viewsenhttps://www.nojitter.com/employee-experience/taking-tired-out-voice-conversationsPGi Adds Dolby Voice, More to GlobalMeet Platformhttps://www.nojitter.com/unified-communications-collaboration/pgi-adds-dolby-voice-more-globalmeet-platform
With a slew of enhancements for its GlobalMeet platform, PGi continues to bulk up its product portfolio and carry forward on CEO Don Joos’s repositioning of the company from a collection of brands (such as from the January 2017 ReadyTalk acquisition) into a full-stack provider of cloud-based business communications tools.

The GlobalMeet platform, which provides cloud calling, collaboration and meeting, and event capabilities, is the focal point for the company’s transition. The addition of UCaaS came in March, for example — an offering initially available in the U.S. and since extended to the U.K., noted Joos, who joined PGi in October 2018.

Expand GlobalMeet’s geographic reach and create additional localized calling experiences, with global inbound numbers now available in Mexico, South Africa, Israel, and New Zealand. These countries flesh out a list that already included Brazil, Australia, Japan, France, Ireland, and Germany, as well as the U.S. and the U.K., where PGi offers full phone service.

Facilitate GlobalMeet event services, with a self-service portal that lets users book new events and receive conference details; view the schedule of upcoming events and make changes in real-time; and receive notices upon availability of post-event deliverables, downloadable from the portal

While my conversation with Joos pre-dated these latest GlobalMeet enhancements, they clearly reflect his desire to “meet any business use case” that comes up. And toward that goal, when we talked, he did provide a heads-up on what to watch for in 2020.

For one, PGi will be looking to add contact center capabilities so that it can meet a larger addressable market as well as better serve existing customers, Joos said. It will be partnering on contact center, not building its own, he added.

Additionally, PGi will be supplementing its portfolio with SD-WAN capabilities. This will enable PGi to better serve multisite, multinational customers, Joos said.

That PGi has an open API architecture is key, Joos added. “The enterprise customer is looking for someone that can provide [communications] capabilities to them but also enable them to build their own differentiators, right? You don’t want to buy a differentiator,” he said.

And while Joos describes his goal of turning PGi into a “software company providing business communications tools,” what he really means is that he wants to support “interactions.” To him, the word “communications” connotes human to human, and what’s taking place today also very much about human to machine and machine to machine, and those say “interaction.”

Having an open API platform allows him to think about “everything a business wants to do,” Joos said. Being able to combine an open API architecture with a mix of open source and proprietary technology, he concluded, “unleashes so much creativity” in the way businesses embed communications into their workflows to drive whatever goals they're trying to achieve.

]]><a href="/event-type/enterprise-connect" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Enterprise Connect</a>Unified Communications & CollaborationAPIs & Embedded CommunicationsCloud CommunicationsConferencingMeetingsVendor NewsPGiUCaaSGlobalMeetbusiness communicationsDolby VoiceDon Joossite:License Global,nid:16807Thu, 05 Dec 2019 00:00:00 -0600Beth SchultzLicense GlobalNews &amp; Viewsenhttps://www.nojitter.com/unified-communications-collaboration/pgi-adds-dolby-voice-more-globalmeet-platformA Case for Investing in Native Video Systemshttps://www.nojitter.com/video-collaboration-av/case-investing-native-video-systems
There’s a bit of a debate happening in the unified communications (UC) space on investing in video interoperability versus native systems. To join the argument, you must first understand the principle of each. Video interoperability is the ability to make two different video conferencing systems connect with each other – essentially a bridge where everyone meets. On the other hand, a native system provides broader functionality through a single platform. While some might say that video interoperability is in line with the UC mission of simplifying communication, I would argue that video interoperability is more reminiscent of early 2000s conference rooms with just basic capabilities, and that true UC goes beyond video interoperability via a native solution.

Why a Native Solution?

First, let’s look at the benefits of native systems. Because video interoperability is made for connecting with other systems, the most functionality you’ll see is basic audio, video, and maybe a way to share content. Comparatively, the functionality of a native system seems more like something out of Minority Report than your average conference room. With a native system, you can do things like:

Join a call from your phone, walk into a conference room, and seamlessly switch the call to room’s conferencing system

From a video conference, point at a whiteboard and have that whiteboard become part of your meeting through handwriting recognition

While presenting in a video conference, the system can make a person walking in front of the camera transparent so there are no disruptions

Collaborate on documents seamlessly in the video conference

With video interoperability, you sacrifice functionality for a works-with-everyone approach. But you can’t beat the functionality gained with a native system. Native systems are what’s taking meetings and collaboration to the next level.

What About Cost?

Cost, specifically in regard to licensing fees, is often seen as the major roadblock when it comes to the true adoption of an overarching native system. However, as video platforms shift and evolve, companies need to keep pace to remain interoperable. In the long run, this may end up costing more than investing in a native solution.

Is It More Efficient?

When an IT team only has to focus on keeping a native system up and running, it can keep up to date with new features and software as they become available. This helps to ensure a company’s conferencing system is never outdated or archaic.

How About Hardware?

This is an easy one. Companies need to invest in a hardware solution that works with any native system. This way, if a business chooses to change its video system in the future, the cost remains low as hardware can easily switch over to the new solution.

Many people mistakenly see video interoperability as the all-encompassing solution that will allow them to connect to others around the world quickly, easily, and at minimal cost. But by choosing video interoperability over a native system, employees will be missing out on full feature sets and new updates. Not to mention, the organization's IT department will potentially leave money on the table by not being able to easily upgrade. Native systems are bringing collaboration to a new level and are what businesses should look to when designing the conference room of the future.

As the UC market continues along its unprecedented evolution, Zoom sees the future of this industry in the convergence of conferencing and phone systems for one consistent front-end experience, said Eric Yuan, Zoom CEO, from the keynote stage at Zoomtopia. And that makes Zoom’s mission to “boldly go where no one has gone before … in service of our customers,” promised Oded Gal, the company’s chief product officer, playing off the event’s theme.

Zoom’s appliance strategy gets the thumbs-up from Roopam Jain, industry director for UC and collaboration at Frost & Sullivan. “Zoom Rooms has always been a disruptive alternative to costly, walled-off legacy hardware room systems, and the new appliance program enables AV teams to video-enable every huddle and conference room while continuing to offer robust speed of innovation to users,” she said in a prepared statement.

Beyond the new appliances, Zoom’s Rooms updates include a variety of capabilities aimed at improving the user experience and management functions. The lineup comprises:

A scheduling display “find a room” feature that shows users a map of nearby rooms available for ad hoc bookings

The ability to use a second Zoom Rooms for Touch device, when added to an existing Zoom meeting room, as a whiteboard. This companion whiteboard uses an interactive display and computer, Zoom said. As the companion doesn’t require a room controller, camera, or audio component, no additional licensing is necessary.

For use in large rooms, support for up to two room controllers and scheduling displays per room

Virtual backgrounds for Rooms, adding to the virtual backgrounds Zoom has offered for mobile and desktop use

An AI-based face detection technique for giving administrators a count on the number of attendees in a Rooms meeting; available in the admin dashboard

While Zoom Rooms got the heaviest dose of updates announced at Zoomtopia, Zoom Phone and Zoom Meetings got some attention, too.

Calling in Zoom

For Zoom Phone, announcements came in four areas:

Geographic reach -- Introduced one year ago with initial availability in January, Zoom Phone has been available in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, and Australia. Now, it’s also generally available in Ireland, and Puerto Rico, with beta service available in nearly a dozen European countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, Zoom said.

Additional new capabilities -- Global dial plans, location-based call routing, and support for dynamic e911, as well as support for Citrix Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

New integrations -- Zoom has given its certification stamp of approval to AudioCodes session border controller and desk phone portfolios, and it now supports overhead paging solutions from Algo and Cyberdata.

The Zoom Phone integrations are in addition to a handful of other product integrations coming to the company’s app marketplace. These include for Zoom for Microsoft, a native Microsoft Teams integration; Zoom for Salesforce, which lets users start a Zoom Meeting and use the Zoom Phone dialer; security services from NICE, Palo Alto Networks, and others; and ServiceNow, for automatic ticketing and Zoom Chat notification so issues can be resolved in Zoom Rooms, Zoom said.

Meetings a la Zoom

In the last set of product enhancements, Zoom has bolstered its Meetings service to improve the user experience and to empower them with technology, the company said. The four additions for Zoom Meetings are.

A simultaneous interpretation capability that lets users bring their own interpreters while Zoom provides multiple audio channels and optimally mixes the original and interpreter audio. By doing so, Zoom said, a listener should be able to understand the interpreter while hearing the tone of the original speaker.

Real-time transcription and voice note taking, powered by Otter.ai

Ability to take meeting notes within the Zoom interface, or use the voice note taking mentioned above; all invited meeting participants have access to notes and AI-determined action items through the Meeting Timeline

Support for videos and Microsoft PowerPoint files, as well as JPEG support, for mixed-reality virtual backgrounds

All above-mentioned capabilities are either available now or will be available by the end of January 2020, Zoom said.

With this announcement, Poly becomes one of two hardware providers Zoom Video Communications has partnered with on an appliance program introduced today at the annual Zoomtopia event. An extension of the Studio line Poly introduced early this year, the new devices are the Poly Studio X30 and X50.

Step Up to the Video Bar

The video bars support 4K ultra-high-definition (UHD) video and built-in wireless content-sharing capabilities, as well as the full range of Poly’s MeetingAI capabilities, said Tim Root, VP of products at Poly, in a No Jitter briefing. The smaller unit, the Studio X30, is for use in small offices or huddle rooms, while the larger X50 is suitable for midsize conference rooms, he said. That latter video bar can support dual Zoom Rooms screens and features better audio pickup range and higher-quality speakers, he said.

With the Studio line, Poly aims to capitalize on the trend of installing ease-to-use video room hardware connected to cloud video services. “This is Poly’s time to step in and say, ‘OK, we’re gonna fight. We’re coming in,’” Root said.

While the initial Studio offering connects to a Windows PC or Mac for processing and control and works with all mainstream cloud video services, the X Series devices feature a touch interface and integrated controls for running either Poly’s traditional video app or Zoom Rooms natively. Think of the X Series in terms of platform rather than product – no need for a gateway for connecting into the cloud video service or a USB-connected peripheral running the Zoom video app, Root emphasized.

And, while starting with Zoom Rooms, it is foreseeable that Poly would later add native support for other cloud video apps, too, he added.

As for their AI capabilities, the X30 and X50 rely on advanced noise suppression that blocks out noises other than the human voice, as well as video production rules that refine the facial views and context for remote users automatically, Root said.

The video bars, which are wall-mountable if desired, will be available for pre-order in November with general availability in North America, Europe, and select additional countries by this December. The X30 is priced at $2,199 and the X50 at $3,499, Poly said.

Zoom in on Large Rooms

Besides the X Series appliances, Poly also used Zoomtopia as the backdrop for letting people know that its G7500 video endpoint for mid- to large-sized conference rooms with now run the Zoom Rooms app natively, too.

The G7500 provides content collaboration and videoconferencing capabilities and, like the X Series devices, integrates advanced audio features, wireless content sharing, and 4K UHD video. It can be used with a variety of camera, microphone, and display options.

The G7500 for Zoom, a software update, will be available in December.

]]>Video Collaboration & A/VConferencingDigital WorkplaceEmployee ExperienceMeetingsPolyPoly StudioZoom RoomsZoomtopiasite:License Global,nid:16604Tue, 15 Oct 2019 00:00:00 -0500Beth SchultzLicense GlobalNews &amp; Viewsenhttps://www.nojitter.com/video-collaboration-av/poly-goes-all-zoom-roomsGoToMeeting Prepares ‘UCC Next Step,’ Revamps Experiencehttps://www.nojitter.com/meetings/gotomeeting-prepares-%E2%80%98ucc-next-step%E2%80%99-revamps-experience
The market for videoconferencing services continues to get more competitive, as business use becomes more mainstream and an increasing number of providers battle for market share. To stay competitive, vendors have to keep their product offerings fresh. The latest such example is UCaaS provider LogMeIn, which today rolled out a new user experience for its GoToMeeting video conferencing solution.

Video Conferencing: From Zero to Everywhere

Demand for video conferencing is widespread. According to Ovum research, seven out of 10 IT leaders are looking to invest in new collaboration technologies in 2020. In 2019, the debate isn’t over whether video conferencing is a legit form of communicating and collaborating, but about how best to use it.

Enterprises aren't only deploying video conferencing to communicate/collaborate with their regionally disparate teams; they’re also using it "to attract the best employees," said Mark Strassman, SVP and GM, UCC, LogMeIn, during a media briefing.

"It's sort of the confluence of two things: companies changing from headquartered to virtual companies, and the workforce themselves; Millennials, Gen Yers, Gen Zers, [making] video the default form of communication,” Strassman said. “Everyone has to have a meeting tool. One that’s secure, and IT can trust.”

These "best employees" are increasingly millennials or younger-generation workers, who are digital natives. Their attitude towards technology is also leading the demand for video conferencing. A Cisco report found that 87% of millennial executives believed video meetings had a significant and positive impact on an organization. A separate Lifesize report showed that 25% of 18-29 years old use video conferencing daily for work, opposed to 15% of people 45-60 years old. With the growing demand for video conferencing, providers like LogMeIn need to offer innovative and easy to use video conferencing solutions to gain the attention of millennials and their enterprise employers.

A New Experience, A New Era

As part of what LogMeIn is calling its “Next Step in UCC strategy,” GoToMeeting will have a new look and feel and a range of new functions to go with it. LogMeIn’s announcement quotes Ira M. Weinstein, founder and managing partner, Recon Research, in saying that this new look and feel aren’t just a "coat of paint on a legacy product," but rather a new solution designed to "add value before, during, and after the meeting experience.”

Created with an intuitive user experience in mind, the enhancements were made to each phase of the meeting (pre-, in-, post-meeting) and include:

Pre-meeting experience:

Improved scheduling. GoToMeeting has updated its calendar plugins and integrations with Office 365, GSuite Calendar, Salesforce, and others. Additionally, it will continue its support of Slack and Zoho, LogMeIn said.

Keep track with the Hub. The Hub will provide users with meeting information and the ability to start and schedule meetings from a central location.

Join how you want. Attendees can join the meeting either through a web-based meeting or via the new GoToMeeting desktop or mobile app, LogMeIn said.

In-meeting experience:

A revised interface. Important controls, like leaving and sharing, are now displayed front and center. Additionally, meeting hosts can choose multiple camera views, create screenshots, and zoom in/out on images, LogMeIn said.

Real-time notetaking. Organizers can also take notes in the meeting, according to LogMeIn. Additionally, the system will auto-generate action items alongside the notes an organizer takes. Notes then can be saved and shared after the meeting, LogMeIn said. This enhancement will be launched at a later date.

A new look across devices. The new look and feel have been consistently applied to desktop, mobile, and web-based GoToMeeting Versions, according to LogMeIn.

Capturing slides. During the meeting, users can capture presentation slides and then share them as a PDF.

Sharable content. The enhancements will allow users to view, download, and share transcripts, videos, and notes with other meeting attendees, LogMeIn said.

End users aren’t the only ones benefiting from the enhancement; IT professionals are getting new controls and functions. IT administrators can now view meeting diagnostics to identify quality issues and assign user-based roles and controls to ensure security and correct accessibility, LogMeIn said. Additionally, LogMeIn has partnered with Poly and Dolby to deliver turnkey video room solutions.